All units and officers were rolled anew for this battle.Notes on the figures: All the figures except the 24th foot, the mounted, the Royal Artillery,the Naval Brigade, the InDuna, and the command figures in the Zulu bands were painted about 25 years ago by Al Rees, Jr., and are on extended loan from him. All figures are Ral Partha, with the exception of the partially painted (now completed) light horse, and the two Europeans in the NNC, who are all Minifigs.

Note that the weird names for the Zulu bands are simply an effort to distinguish the bands from one another. After this battle they all got dots on the back of their bases. In future battles, they will all be (insert color here) dots.

The Zulu player was given the option to remove firearm-equipped figures from his bands and set up a Rep 5 band with muskets, range 20", fire dice 1. He chose to do so.

The British at the beginning.

The Zulu also at the beginning.

Turn 1: British 6 Zulu 4
British are unable to activate. The Zulu forces except the White Dot, advance.

Turn 2: British 6 Zulu 4 (Hmmm, I'm beginning to detect a pattern...)
The British are unable to activate.
The Zulu head advances, and cause Tests of Will for the 24th, 80th, and Royal Artillery. Both the 24th and the 80th hold for volley fire. The artillery fires on the Blue Dot Zulus, causing 1 casualty. The Blue Dot carries on.

Turn 3: British 1 Zulu 5
The Zulu head advances, leaving the Red Dots to lag behind. The Blue Dots charge the 24th, who fire on the Blue Dots, killing 3, and causing 2 to Runaway.
The Yellow Tails charge the 80th, who fire, lose 3, and have an even melee.

The Frontier Light Horse/Natal Constabulary (hereafter known as the FLH/NC) fire on the Orange and kill 1, causing 3 to Runaway. The rest Carry On.
The 24th melee the Blue Dots, who lose 2, and both Carry On.
The 80th melee the Yellow Tails, evenly, and both Carry On.
The Irregular Horse advance and fire on the Red Dots to no effect.

Turn 4: British 6 Zulu 5 (beginning to get the picture?)
The Orange charge the junction of the 24th and the 80th, taking 1 casualty, to British firepower, and 3 to British bayonets, including their leader. They didn't like him anyway, and carry on. In this melee the 80th loses 1, but carries on.

Turn 5: British 6 Zulu 3 (4 failures to activate for the British in the first 5 moves. Sigh)
The Zulu Rifles fire on the FLH/NC and score 1 hit. The FLH/NC return fire and cause 1 casualty. Both Carry On.
The Orange melee the 24th, evenly. Both Carry On.
The Blue Dots melee the 24th, evenly. Both Carry On.
theThe Yellow Tails melee the 80th, no casualties, but 1 in 6 British Runaway.

﻿

Turn 6: British 3 Zulu 2

The artillery fires at the Black Pompoms, 2 hits including the leader, and they retire 1 full move.

The 24th steps back, fires at the Blue Dots, who charge, lose 2, and 1 Runaway.

The 80th steps back, fires at the Yellow Tails, misses. They charge. 80th fires in reaction, misses again, and lose 2 to the assegai.

The Irregular Horse withdraws and fires at the Red Dots, with no hits. The Red Dots Carry On.

The Balck Pompoms advance on the artillery, who fires, killing 2. This is too much for the Black Pompoms who fail 2d6 and Runaway.

The Yellow Tails continue their melee with the 80th, who lose 2 more. Both Carry On.

The Blue Dots melee the 24th, who lose 2. Both Carry On.

Turn 7: British 1 Zulu 3

The Zulu Rifles inflict another casualty on the FLH/NC, who pass 2d6, adding 1d6 to the next Being Charged test and volley fire.

The Orange charge the gun, who fire and miss, and lose 2 in the melee, leaving only 1 figure.

The Yellow Tails inflict another casualty on the 80th, and wipe them out.

The Blue Dots lose 3 more to the 24th, reducing them to 2 figures.

The 24th withdraws﻿, exposing the Naval Brigade to a Test of Wills. They form up for a +1d6 volley fire and Being Charged test.

FLH/NC turn and fire at the Orange, who charge. The FLH/NC (pass 1d6) can see how the wind is blowing, fire 1 shot, and retire off the table. (They had to retire a full move, 24" for mounted in open order. My call was not to have them stop at the table, since mounted volunteers only withstood a charge if caught flat-footed.)

The Irregular Horse fire at the White Dots, and miss. The Natal Native Contingent also fire with 1d6, hit, it's the leader, and 1 in 3 Runaway.

Turn 8: British 1 Zulu 5
The Blue Dots charge the 24th, who fire and miss.
The Red Dots charge the Naval Brigade, who fire, inflicting 2 casualties.
The 24th fires at the Blue Dots, who charge and wipe out the 24th.
The Irregular Horse fire at the White Dots, who charge, and melee evenly.
The Naval Brigade melee the Red Dots, evenly, but 1 in 3 Ruanway.

Turn 9: British 3 Zulu 1

Naval Brigade melees the Red Dots, whom they now outnumber 2 to 1, and 3 Runaway.﻿

The last 3 dead 24th foot fire and kill the Yellow Tails (Whoops! I didn't put the last 3 dead 24th with the rest of the unit, so they moved across the back of the enclosure and fired on the last Yellow Tail. Zombie British)

The last 2 Blue Dots charge the Naval Brigade, and kill 1.

The Red Dots melee the Naval Brigade, and it's a wash.

The White Dots charge the Irregular Horse, kill 3, and 1 Runaway.

Turn 10: British 6 Zulu 2

The Red Dots melee the Naval Brigade, who outnumber them 2 to 1, and kill 3 sailors.

The White Dots wipe out the Irregular Horse.

At this point we called the game a decisive Zulu victory. They had wiped out or run off all but 2 British units. The Naval Brigade was down to half strength, and the NNC are only Rep 3. Even my blatant cheating in turn 8 couldn't defeat the Zulus.

We decided that this wasn't a good indicator of whether the increase in British strength evened the battle. The British did not activate 5 out of 10 turns, and that was just too much of a handicap to overcome, especially when 2 of the non-activations were in the critical first 2 turns when the British could deal out damage before the Zulus closed.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

We played another game with the exact same troops, with pretty much the same results on Sunday. Tomorrow, we will replay with some changes. Right now, we have decided that as things are, the Zulu are too strong to be defeated unless the Brits are equal in number. Tomorrow the Gardiner Gun will be replaced with an artillery piece, the light horse units will be increased to 8 figures, and there will be no Rep 6 Zulu uints nor Rep 4 line infantry. The light horse will stay as is.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Captain Brightly received word from friendlies that the Kretzmeier farm had a contingent of Zulu near it. He managed to scrape together a platoon each from the 24th and 80th foot. To this he added a detachment from the Royal Navy with a Gardiner gun. When the locals saw that he was marching out, a small detachment of the Frontier Light Horse and the Border Horse volunteered to help him. And the local commander of a group of the Natal Native Infantry insisted that he be allowed to come along. Though Captain Brightly wasn't thrilled with his offer, he felt the NNI has been too idle, and "a walk'll do 'em good".

Upon reaching the Kretzmeier farm and seeing Zulu in the distance, Cpt. Brightly decided to defend the enclosure behind the farm house, putting the 24th and the Naval Brigade in the front line with the Gardiner gun between them. He put the 80th in reserve, and sent the horsemen out to the flanks. He put the NNI in the rear to guard against a possible flanking movement by the Zulu.

The Zulu opposing him consisted of 6 bands in the traditional buffalo horn formation.

Turn 1: British 5, Zulu 6 No activation for the Zulus. Cpt. Brightly sends the two horsemen units out to the flanks to draw the horns away from the flanks of the main body.

Turn 2: British 2, Zulu 1. Frontier Light Horse and Border Horse fire on the bands to their respective front, causing one casualty each. The wings carry on and advance. The main Zulu body advances.

Turn 3: British 6, Zulu 4. Zulu band 3 charges and causes the Border Horse to take a Being Charged test. They pass 1d6 and fire, and retire.
Zulu band 1 is unable to advance.
Zulu main body advances, and causes the 24th foot and the Gardiner gun to take a Test of Wills on Zulu band 5 only. Both fire, and cause a total of 6 hits. The 24th runs low on ammo. Zulu band 5 carries on.
Zulu band 3's charge leads them still into the Test of Wills area of the Border Horse, who fires again, missing. The ferocious Zulus charge, the Border Horse fires, causing 1 hit, which band 3 shakes off, and the charge just contacts the front of the Border Horse. Bowie knives against spear and shield shouldn't prevail, but they do, and 1 Zulu goes down. They pass 1d6 on Received Casualty and 1 in 3 Runaway. (I forgot to remove 1 figure from each side at the beginning of the melee this time only.)

Turn 4: British 5, Zulu 2.
British Activation: The 24th sends a runner back to collect ammo, and fires on Zulu band 5, achieving one hit, and another low ammo marker. The Zulu pass 1d6, and 1 in 6 Runaway.
The Border Horse retreats to its right flank and fires at Zulu band 3, missing, and they pass 1d6, but can only turn 90 degrees to face their enemy.
Zulu Activation: Zulu band 1 advances and causes a Test of Will for the Frontier Light Horse, who pass 2d6, and stand adding 1d6 to their next Being Charged test.
Zulu band 4 charge the Naval Brigade, who volley fire and miss. In the melee, the Royal Navy loses 1. Both units carry on.
Zulu band 5 charges the Gardiner, which wreaks such havoc, that the entire front line is killed. Remarkably, they carry on.

Zulu bands 2 & 6 follow the bands in front of them.

Turn 5: (I failed to record the activation dice roll)
British Activation. The Navy fires, and misses again, and Zulu band 4 carries on.
The Gardiner misses.
The Border Horse fires, misses, is charged and caught by 3 to 1 odds, and ties Zulu band 3 in melee.
The 80th foot turns to face the treat to the rear.

24th foot volley fires, hits and caused 1 in 6 to Runaway on Zulu band 6.
Zulu Activation: Zulu band 3 destroys the Border Horse.
Zulu band 4 melee the Navy, killing their officer, but they pass with 2d6.
Zulu band 6 charges the 24th, and takes 1 hit, and carries on.
Zulu band 2 charges the Gardiner, the gunners run to the Navy, and they find a gap to get over the wall, but only a few can cross.
Zulu band 1 charges the Frontier Light Horse, receiving a casualty to their fire, closes to melee, and the second band of horsemen falls.

Turn 6: British 5, Zulus 4
British activation: The 24th closes ranks, and melees, with no casualties to either side beyond the automatic 1 each. Both carry on.
Zulu Activation: Zulu band 2 turns to try to take the 24th in the flank.
Zulu band 6 melees the 24th with only the automatic 1 each.
Zulu band 4 melees the Navy with only the automatic 1 each.
Zulu band 3 charges the poor NNI, who stand, lose 1 and 2, and 5 Runaway.

Turn 7 & 8 So messy that I'm combining the 2 turns.
British Activation: The 24th turns its rear rank to face the threat from Zulu band 2. Melees are fought, and the 24th does not do well, and are reduced to 2 figures, who retreat to join the 80th.
The Navy loses 5, but holds.
The NNI holds, but 2 Runaway.
The 80th reverses face again, and fires into Zulu band 2, who turn to face them.
Zulu Activation: Zulu band 4 melees the Navy, killing the last leader, and reducing them to 2 figures, and the gunners.
Zulu band 3 wipes out the NNI.
Zulu band 2 charges the combined 80th & 24th, who both volley fire, and still can't break them. The melee brings the 24th to its officer only, but both units hold, as do the Zulu.
Zulu bands 1 & 6 were unable to activate.

Turn 9: British 2, Zulu 6:
British Activation: The Navy pulls back and fires at Zulu band 4, misses, and they charge in reaction. The Navy volley fires, misses, the charge goes home, the Navy is wiped out, and the gunners Runaway.
The 80th pulls back to the wall, and fires at Zulu band 4, destroying them.

Turn 10: British 1, Zulus 2
Zulu band 2 melees the officer of the 24th foot, and kills him. 80th foot, as the last surviving British unit, becomes Rep 5.
Zulu band 6 charges the 80th, who volley fire at them, causing 2 hits, one of which is the leader, pass 0d6, and should have Runaway, but I rolled on the Received Casualty table by mistake, so they charged. In the melee, the 80th loses 2 figures.
Zulu band 1 crosses the wall.
Zulu band 3 moves to the wall.

Trun 11: British 2, Zulu 4
Zulu Activation: Zulu band 6 melees the 80th, and takes down 2 more. The 80th carries on.
Zulu band 2 charges the 80th, who volley fire and cause 2 hits, which the band ignores and charges home, taking out 2 more of the 80th, who carry on.
Zulu band 3 throws spears into the rear of the 80th, with no effect.
Zulu band 1 advances, but can't find a way to attack.
British Activation: The 80th falls back to the edge of the table, and fires into the rear of Zulu band 3, causing no damage, and they turn to face.

Turn 12: British 4, Zulus 3
British Activation: The 80th, and Cpt. Brightly retreat off the table.

My two mistakes really didn't change the outcome very much. The Border Horse would have still been eliminated. And Band 6 was nearly eliminated anyway. Band 1, combined with the remnants of bands 2 & 3 would still have been more than enough to have eliminated the 80th foot. However, a Zulu unit running away would certainly given heart to the 80th. They were so diminshed by the time that they should have run that it is unlikely that they would have influenced another unit to have done so.

I was attempting historical tactics, with the light horsemen drawing off the Zulu units by firing on them and retreating. Obviously, those units need to be stonger, perhaps 8 figures each. I can see Greater Endeavors will be getting another order.

I played the British, and Ron Gros played the Zulus up to turn 9, when he was called away. I was rolling better than I ever do, so that the Brits, with 5 dice in melee, where beating or tying the Zulus with 7 or 8 dice in melee.

Ron really enjoyed himself. He had only played the European troops before and it was early Egyptians verses the Dervish, which is a different kettle of fish altogether. He wants to play it again. I may substitue a piece of artillery for the Gardiner, and beef up the light horse.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Of course, Vader1 showed up Friday night with my new biker scout helmet, so the Three Hissen game got side lined. Now I can apply to the 501st for sanction as a biker scout. It's made by KS, and here are some pics. I spent a good portion of Saturday getting a hard hat suspension to fit.

Friday, December 3, 2010

This adventrue was on the Two Hour Wargames site, but with the new format, all the scenarios have not been reloaded. Since I wrote it, there's no problem with me posting it here.

Hopefully, I'll be able to play it tomorrow, and post a batrep.

Three Hishen:

A 5150 Adventure

sold by Atcheson Creations

You are Drone NCO One.You have just finished a gathering operation in which the humans fired a few shots in your direction, and then ran.Your Inferior Drones Two and Three, followed you closely as you chased a human cow with the intention of capturing it.As it ran, it threw away its pack and ammo pouch, but kept a grip on its machine pistol.Being larger, it outdistanced the three of you, but you were able to keep it in sight.Suddenly, it disappeared, but Drone Two found that it had tripped and was unconscious.

When you caught up to Drone Two, you could see that it was little a human cow, valuable since they can give you more slaves.But, nonetheless, an inspection showed that its weapon had been fired.It took a while for it to regain consciousness.When it did, you found that the Universal Voice Box was missing.You strapped its weapon to your back and began the journey back.But what direction?In the chase, none of you paid any heed to where you were going.And the human cow seems as confused as you are as to its location.

Also, unnoticed while you were waiting for it to regain consciousness, a heavy fog has set in.

So begins the game.You three Hishen are armed, you packing a Perak Pistol, and the Inferior Drones Perak Rifles.The female prisoner is a Rep 3.

There is a heavy fog. Visibility is 12 inches.You begin in the center of the table.The terrain is mostly open forest.Choose a direction in which to start, or number the table sides, and go where the dice tell you.

You will roll activation dice each turn.The other one is for whatever comes.Doubles will represent your hesitation due to being lost.If you roll a “7”, roll for an encounter.

ENCOUNTER ROLL 1d6

1-You hear a sound behind you.

2-3 You see a shadow flitting just inside the mist to your left.

4-5You see a shadow flitting just inside the mist to your right.

6-You see a shadow flitting just inside the mist in front of you.

When you move toward the shadow or sound, if you choose to:

ROLL 2d6

2-Prisoner tries to escape.

3-Humans

4-OOF Human

5-Docile Herbivore

6-Nothing

7-Nothing

8-Nothing

9-Docile Herbivore

10-OOF Hishen

11-Hishen, also lost

12-Aggressive Carnivore

For Hishen and Humans, use the How Many Of Them Table on page 53.Roll them up, using the Militia table for Humans.If Humans, you and they will take an In Sight check. Humans will use the Militia QRS. If Aggressive Carnivore, you take an In Sight check, and the Carnivore takes a Wanting To Charge test.The Carnivore is Rep 5, +1d6 in melee.

If the prisoner tries to escape, take an Opposed Task test against the Hishen nearest her.If the prisoner successfully escapes, she will attempt to fast move directly away from the Hishen whom she tested against.

While you have the prisoner, you cannot Fast Move.If you chose to take a wounded Human with you, normal Carrying Others rules apply, and yes, you can make the prisoner carry a wounded man.

If you roll a double 6 on activation, followed by another double 6 for activation, you see a farm ahead of you.

Roll 1d6: on a 5 or 6, there are non-combatants present.Otherwise the farm is deserted.If they are present, roll for quantity on the Non-Combatants Table, and roll them up on the Civilian table.There will be a firearm or two at the farm, but the figures will be unarmed.

When you reach the table edge, roll a d6.On a 6, you recognize a landmark, and have found the right way back.On any other roll, turn around and try another route.And yes, you may end up going to the same table side before you get off.Never been lost in unfamiliar woods in a heavy fog?

About Me

Been wargaming since the early 1960's, starting with a mimeographed set from Jack Scruby and Airfix figures. After a long hiatis, and running into Larry Brom and Bob Kelso at conventions, I began again with Ral Partha and Falcon.